If you think you might be suffering from hearing loss, the best thing you can do is to make an appointment to see a specialist to get expert attention as soon as possible. The worst thing you can do is leave everything untreated, hoping that it will all just go away. No matter how scared you might be, or embarrassed, or how much you don’t want to wear a hearing aid, leaving hearing loss untreated could have some extremely serious consequences. Here are just some of them.
It will get worse
As with any serious medical condition, leaving it alone, ignoring it, and hoping for the best are not how to deal with it. Without proper expert attention, hearing loss will only continue to get worse. In some cases, professionals are able to reverse the problem when they know more about it, and if they can’t they can drastically improve your life with a hearing aid – this can’t happen if you don’t seek help.
Your brain will change
It sounds dramatic, but it’s a fact; hearing loss can cause your brain to shrink. Certain parts of the brain will atrophy is they are not used, and that’s not a good thing in the least. Not only will it mean that your hearing loss will often become irreversible, but also that you might find you can no longer understand speech well, and you might lose some language skills.
You will be isolated
When you suffer from hearing loss, you will often become isolated. It won’t happen overnight, but gradually, as you find it more and more difficult to understand and be involved in conversations. You will begin to withdraw, staying at home rather than going out, and if your hearing loss is untreated this will not improve – even the radio and TV will no longer offer companionship.
Your work will suffer
If you are suffering from hearing loss and you are work you might find that your hearing loss prevents you from applying for jobs – you know you’ll have trouble during the interview. If you already have a job, ongoing hearing loss might mean that you become less productive in it; if you can no longer hear the phone, speak with colleagues, listen to instructions, or keep yourself safe in a warehouse or yard environment, for example, then you may need to leave your job altogether.
